Anguished author of fine fantasy

Conflict

Frozen in fear I stared at it, a few feet away blocking my passage. My feet would not move, my heart thumping in my chest as a cold sweat began to trickle down my forehead. For how long we faced each other, engaged in a battle of wills as we were, I do not know, but thoughts of my family permeated my mind mingled with the abject terror I felt.

What would I do? I must protect my children, my pets, my beloved wife of so many years, yet the horror I felt screamed for me to run away, to leave them to their fate; that they would understand and patiently wait for my return. The conflicting needs rooted me even more than the fear; the compilation of the two making me a virtual statue.

The A/C clicked on, the loudness of it in the terror-filled silence making me twitch. It twitched in response, making me gasp in fear. It was enough to break the immobility and push me to action; push me to think first for the safety of my family. Slowly, as if moving through cement, I raised my leg and extended it forward, my foot in the lead. It watched my every step and I caught with a quick eye, that tiny contraction of its legs in preparation for a jump.

It was now or never I knew. This would be my only chance at victory and failure would encase me in a web of fear that I could not struggle free from. NOW! I screamed in my head. NOW! and with great effort I slammed my foot forward and down in such blazing speed that my foe was caught unaware, not expecting such a decisive attack. Helplessly the spider was squished beneath my foot.